


Bad News

by helsinkibaby



Series: Right Beside Me Around Every Turn [7]
Category: The Flying Doctors
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Canon Het Relationship, F/M, Het, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-26
Updated: 2017-11-26
Packaged: 2019-02-07 06:36:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12835398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: Geoff knows what it's like when the woman you love gets a worst case scenario diagnosis. Now Tom does too.





	Bad News

**Author's Note:**

> For gen prompt bingo "worst case scenario"

It might just be the most awkward dinner party that Tom and Chris have ever thrown and for once it's not because Kate and Geoff are inches away from tearing one another's throats out. Privately, Tom thinks they're inches away from tearing one another's clothes off and Chris doesn't disagree, but that's a thought for another day.

Tonight, however, they're in complete agreement. Both of them came here wanting to know everything about how Chris got on in Sydney, what the specialist told her. Chris, however, seems equally as determined not to talk about it and having been on the receiving end of quite a few sharp words from her, Tom's not inclined to push it. Not that he thinks he'd have much luck talking Chris into anything at the moment - he'd suggested she have a rest when they got home but no, she'd gone straight into the kitchen and began cooking a meal that Delia Smith would have been proud of. She'd done starters, mains and desserts and while normally he wouldn't complain - he and Chris have a regular contest of "Can You Top That?" when it comes to cooking - he doesn't want her over-exerting herself. 

He doesn't want her upsetting herself either but that's exactly what happens when Kate - not renowned for her patience at the best of times - finally snaps halfway through the dessert. She demands to know exactly what Chris was told and, when faced with the blunt question, Chris is equally blunt back, tells them about the tumour around her aorta before standing and telling them that she'd leave them alone so that they could talk about what was best for her. 

Kate looks stricken as she looks after Chris but Tom sees her hackles rise when she looks at Geoff, as if she's daring him to say something to her. She asks all the right questions but Geoff and Tom can't give her any answers that satisfy her, which make sense because they don't have any answers that satisfy themselves either. When Geoff asks Tom, "Will she have the surgery?" and that's when Kate stands up, gives Tom a small smile. 

"I'll let you two doctors talk doctor," she says and there's none of the usual acrimony when she looks at Geoff. "I'll see you both tomorrow."

Tom walks her to the door, hugs her and kisses her on the cheek, and when he goes back inside, Geoff is regarding him thoughtfully. Suddenly, Tom can't bear to think about what they've been discussing for a second longer, so he changes the subject. "Right, you've been at the base all day, you've heard the gossip. Exactly how on the rocks are me and Chris?" 

It's an educated guess from having lived in Cooper's Crossing for long enough, but he's not sure if it's the change of subject or being put on the proverbial spot that has Geoff's eyes flaring wide. He blinks almost comically, opens his mouth and closes it again, but when he sees the smile playing around Tom's lips, he relaxes a little. Just a little. "According to the pilot, you two barely said a word to each other the whole flight back. Some people think you were just tired after your holiday and were wishing you didn't have to come home; some people think you've just had a bad fight which is practically inevitable since you spend every waking minute together, and Nancy is trying to remember what both your favourite meals are so she can put them on the menu and get you out on the balcony for a romantic meal to get you back on track." 

It's a fairly comprehensive summary and it makes Tom roll his eyes. It figures, of course, that the pilot would never mention how he and Chris had stood on the tarmac before boarding the plane, her head on his shoulder, their arms around each other's waists. Or how they'd sat side by side on the flight, holding hands, fingers interlaced, the whole time. How her head had sometimes again found his shoulder, how on those occasions, he'd rested his cheek on top of her head and closed his eyes, trying to pretend everything was normal. But no, since they weren't full of smiles and chat, obviously they were on the rocks. 

Still, that was Cooper's Crossing for you and he decides to look on the bright side. "Well, at least it'll give me something else to think about tomorrow morning... trying to dodge all the pointed questions and well meaning enquiries..." 

The thought of negotiating that particular minefield is enough to make him queasy and he almost misses Geoff's quiet question. 

"How are you?" 

He's caught off guard and Tom turns his head sharply to the other man. "Me?" he says and Geoff nods, gives him a kind of lopsided smile. 

"I only ask," he says carefully, "because I know what it's like when the woman you love gets a worst case scenario diagnosis." Which this certainly is, and as doctors, they both know that. Chris does too, which is why she's so frightened and trying so damn hard not to show it. "So as someone who's been there, I ask again. How are you?" 

A chuckle that has no humour whatsoever attached to it passes Tom's lips and he raises his beer to his lips before he can speak. "Not good," is the only way he can describe it and even then, that's paltry, barely scratching the surface of how he feels. 

The woman he loves, his Chris, has a benign tumour wrapped around her aorta. If medication doesn't work, and he knows the odds are not in their favour, it's going to require surgery and those odds too, are not in their favour. Kate's words of earlier ring in his mind - "So the operation is a success, but the patient dies." 

He shudders before he forces the thought out of his mind. 

"Have the two of you talked about the surgery?" 

Tom shakes his head, recalling the hours of conversation about nothing else. "Around and round in circles," he says. "She wants to control it with medication." Geoff's lips twist and Tom understands why. "If she was my patient, I'd tell her to have the surgery." 

The "but" goes unspoken but Geoff says it any way. "But she's not your patient." 

Tom inclines his head in acknowledgment. "And I'm finally beginning to understand why doctors aren't allowed to treat family members." Because even though he knows it's a more effective treatment, it's not so much the dangers of the surgery that make Tom's stomach churn. Rather, it's the thought of Chris being operated on at all, the thought of a surgeon's hand cutting her open... Tom pushes that thought out of his mind as well. 

"I know how tough this is." Geoff looks down into his own beer and when he glances back up at Tom, the pain that's in his face is almost enough to take Tom's breath away. "To feel one minute that everything's fine, and the next..." 

His voice trails off and Tom finds himself nodding. "I knew she wasn't herself," he hears himself saying. "Not sleeping, tired all the time, nauseated, snappy... I thought it was hormones. I thought..." He stops, because he hasn't told anyone, even Chris, what he'd thought. 

Geoff frowns, like he's trying to work it out but then he gets it. His face clears even as his jaw drops. "You thought she was pregnant." 

For just a moment, Tom lets himself think back to those couple of days where he'd been so sure of himself, of his guess. So sure that he'd begun planning how they were going to notify headquarters of the need for a locum to cover maternity leave, was wondering how they were going to decorate the second bedroom to turn it into a nursery. He'd imagined what it would be like to have a little boy or girl running to greet him when he came back from work, he'd thought of names as he'd wondered who'd be more excited, Kate or Nancy (equally, he'd decided, although Nancy would have her knitting needles out before they'd finished the celebratory drink that she'd no doubt make Vic lay on) and he'd even wondered if Violet would make a return from overseas to stake her claim as surrogate grandmother - after all, she'd never stopped taking the credit for getting him and Chris together, both times it had happened. 

But he doesn't say any of that to Geoff. "Not that we're trying," he says instead. "I mean, there are still people around here who don't agree with us 'living in sin', you can imagine what they'd say to a child born out of wedlock." 

"But you wouldn't care about that." 

Tom grins at Geoff's quiet assurance. "No. I wouldn't." Another swig of his beer does nothing to wash away the lump in his throat that comes from the wish that that could be their biggest problem. "I thought that until I realised she couldn't be pregnant. And that was when I started to get worried. It took me nearly a week to get her to talk to you." 

Geoff's lips twitched. "When you practically carried her into my office, I had some idea." 

That gets a laugh out of Tom. While it's an exaggeration, it's not much of one. "She's scared, Geoff," he says. "And I get it, I do. I just..." He sighs, the truth of the matter finally getting to him. "I just don't know what to say to her. First time in three years I've felt like this."

"So maybe you don't talk," Geoff shrugs. "Maybe just listen." 

"And if she doesn't talk to me? What then?" 

Geoff shrugs again. "You listen harder." 

Those words ring in Tom's ear long after Geoff has gone back home, even as he makes an effort to tidy up the house. He manages to transport the dishes to the sink but that's as far as he gets before he finds himself turning on his heel and making his way to the bedroom. Chris is lying on her side on the bed, facing away from the door. When he steps inside, he can see the thin line of tension across her shoulders and he sighs inwardly as he kicks his shoes off and joins her on the bed, lying down behind her, tucking his knees in behind hers and draping his arm over her waist. 

"Nice shirt." He plucks at the material, means for it to be a joke - her penchant for stealing his shirts is one he good naturedly complains about but secretly loves. She knows it too, which is one of the reasons why she keeps doing it. She doesn't laugh this time though. Instead, he hears a soft sniff, a noise that breaks his heart - he can't stand to see her cry and it's not lost on him that this is the first time she's cried since they got her initial diagnosis. "Chris..." He props himself up, leans over her to better see her face before dropping a kiss to her neck. 

"Should my ears have stopped burning?" she asks, her voice thick with tears but before he can say anything, she bites her lip, turns her head to meet his eyes. "I'm sorry, don't answer that." 

"Chris, you don't have anything to be sorry for-"

"I just hate this. I hate it." Tears of frustration brim in her eyes and she brushes them away impatiently. "It's not fair." 

Tom doesn't try to hold back his sigh, just gathers her into his arms and, much to his surprise given her current emotional state, Chris goes easily. "I know, darling," he says quietly, one hand moving over her hair, the other settling on her hip. "I know." 

Her fingers make a fist in his shirt so tight that her knuckles turn white. "I'm scared, Tom," she whispers. "I'm really scared." 

"I know. Me too." He kisses the top of her head, rubs circles into her hip. "I'm here, Chris... I'm not going anywhere." 

He’s made that promise to her countless times and he’s meant it every time. Maybe that’s why it’s all she needs to hear for the dam to break and for her to sob into his chest. 

If he cries a few tears of his own, Tom thinks he'll be forgiven.


End file.
